I am a connoisseur of typing games. Typing of the Dead on Dreamcast? That was the game my boyfriend and I played when we first started dating. Typing Shark when I was in middle school. Those silly typing games they had you do in elementary school computer lab. I did them all.
It’s probably an English major thing.
But you don’t have to be a huge typing nerd to love Icarus Proudbottom Teaches Typing. For one, Icarus Proudbottom, the titular character, is super excited about typing. So much so that he has to apologize for his love. Along with his owlkin Jerry, you navigate several typing exercises.
The game expounds on the traditional typing game in that there is a narrative arc. In most browser based typing games, you just continue until you die, usually against a clock or something registering your words per minute.
But Icarus Proudbottom Teaches Typing eschews that traditional format. You can type most of the exercises, except some end game ones and the quizzes at your own pace. What really counts for points is accuracy, but there’s no penalty for death.
For a typing game, that’s honestly pretty kind.
There are a few issues with the game. For one, the difficulty ramps up quite a bit near the end. No spoilers, but it’s definitely a different typing game beast near the end. The whole game can be played in less than an hour, start to finish, though there is a survival speed mode you can unlock once you’ve completed the basic game. If you’re one of those people who need a game to be eight hours long before it can even begin to hold your attention, Icarus is probably not for you.
Also, almost every prompt can be controlled via keyboard, except for the ones that notify you of your passwords after each level. These have to be controlled by mouse. While it’s a relatively minor gripe, it was still something that took me out of the game.
Where Icarus really delivers is game feel. The tone is always on point, the humor wry and bright, and the characters entertaining. I wasn’t waiting for Icarus to end, and would be glad to play a follow up.
The game is free and browser based, and you can play it now, here.
